Procedure and device to lift liquids by means of pressure fluids



9 196? v. BRUGNOLI 3 3M586 PROCEDURE AND DEVICE TO LIFT LIQUIDS BY MEANS OF PRESSURE FLUIDS Filed March 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Vzhcrm o 5 m 1702i BY MM mm Feb. 7, 1967 v. BRUGNOLI 3,302,586

PROCEDURE AND DEVICE TO LIFT LIQUIDS BY MEANS OF PRESSURE FLUIDS Filed March 2, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Vincenzo Bm r2021;

United States Patent 6) 7 3,332,586 PROCEDURE AND DEVICE T LIFT LIQUIDS BY MEANS OF TRESSURE FLUIDS Vincenzo Brugnoli, 158 Viale Regina Margherita, Rome, Italy Filed Mar. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 348,597 Claims priority, application Italy, Mar. 29, 1963, 6,114/ 63 8 Claims. (Cl. 103-232) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for pneumatically lifting liquids, and is particularly suited for the extraction of petroleum or water from the ground.

It is an important object of the invention to avoid emulsification of the lifting gas and the lifted liquid.

Another object is the provision of a lifting device of simple and very sturdy construction characterized by compactness and comparative lightness, as well as by minimum wear of its few movable components.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of my lifting devices and of its use in lifting crude oil from the ground, when considered with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a lifting device or pump of the invention in an oil well in an elevational view;

FIG. 2 shows the pump of FIG. 1 in fragmentary section on the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the pump in section on the line IIIIII in FIG. 4 on a larger scale;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the pump in section on the line IVIV in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows the pump in plan section on the line VV in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 diagrammatically illustrates certain dimensiona1 relationships in the pump of FIGS. 1 to 5.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIGS. 1 to 6, there is seen a pump casing 1 normally installed in an oil well partly beneath the liquid level L of the oil. The casing includes an upright cylindrcal container 7 whose two axial ends are closed by centrally apertured plates 8, 9. The aperture in the plate 9 is closed by the walls of a delivery pipe 2 which extends coaxially into the container 7 and is downwardly closed by a bottom plate 11. The upper end of the pipe 2 forms a spout 3.

Two tubes 12, 1.3 branch from the closed end of the pipe 2 and extend separately downward in the container 7 into a vertical tube 14 coaxial with the container 7 near the aperture plate 8. The tube 14 is upwardly closed by a metal disc 23 and downwardly open to form a seat for a check valve 36. The pipe 2 and tubes 12, 13, and 14 thus constitute a continuous conduit having a lower orifice in the bottom portion of the conta ner 7.

An expansion tube 10 coaxial with the delivery pipe 2 extends upward from the bottom plate plate 11 into the pipe 2 and has an enlarged head 6 at its top in a radially enlarged portion 2' of the pipe 2.

A tube 16, wider than the expansion tube 10, coaxial therewith, and communicating with the expansion tube through a central opening in the bottom plate 11 depends from the bottom plate between the branch tubes 12, 13. It serves as a guide for two floats 17, 18 mounted within the tube 16 in vertically spaced relationship on a rod or stem 34 which extends to the head 6. The space within the tube 16 communicates with the cavity in the container 7 through radial openings 19, 20, 21, 22 in the tube 16 and through the open bottom of the tube 16. The floats 17, 18 are located adjacent the plate 11 and the disc 23 respectively. The cavity of the con- 3,312,535 Patented Feb. 7, we?

tainer 7 communicates with a supply of oil in the well through a check valve 15 in the aperture of the plate 8.

The valve arrangement which opens and closes the top of the expansion tube It is best seen in FIG. 3. The head 6 has a cylindrical portion 27, and the vertical stem 25 of a valve disc 24 is coaxially guided in the portion 27 in a sleeve 26 mounted on radial arms 37, 38. The valve disc 24 is also guided by a sleeve 30 coaxially depending from the disc 24 and movably received in a helical spring 33 which abuts against the disc 24 and brackets 33' on the head 6. The rod 34 is attached to the disc 24 by means of a yoke 35 which is fixedly fastened to the sleeve 30.

A compressed air line 4 descends into the oil well from a compressor 5 above ground level S and its up wardly bent terminal portion 4 is centrally located in the head 6, its orifice being surrounded by the sleeve 30 without interfering with the vertical movement of the disc 24 and the attached rod 34 toward and away from the illustrated position in which the disc 24 is downwardly spaced from an annular seating face 28 of the member 27 to permit communication between the delivery pipe 2 and the container 7 through the opening 31 between the disc 24 and the face 28, and through the expansion tube 14 When the disc 24 is upwardly displaced from the illustrated position, it seals the tube 16 from the pipe 2.

The afore-described apparatus is operated as fol-lows:

When the container 7 is submerged below the level L of the liquid to be lifted, the liquid enters the container through the check valve 15, and also fills the branch tubes 12, 13 through the check valve 36 and the tube 14. It further penetrates into the wide tube 16 through the radial openings 19 to 22, and the rising floats 1'7, 18 assisted by the Spring 33 urge the valve 24 against the seating face 28, thereby interrupting the connection between the tube 14) and the delivery pipe 2 when the liquid reaches the upper float 17.

Compressed air is next admitted from the compressor 5 through the orifice of the air line 4 into the expansion tube 10, displacing the liquid from the tube in a downward direction, whereby the check valve 15 is closed, and the liquid rises through the valve 36 and the branch tubes 12, 13 into the delivery pipe 2.

When the liquid level in the container 7 is depressed by air pressure to the lower float 18, the valve 24 drops away from its seat 28.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the vertical distance of the disc 24 from the valve 15 is indicated as x and the liquid column extends from the valve 15 to a level x +x above the head 6 at the moment of opening of the disc 24 by the floats 17, 18, and is balanced by a corresponding air pressure in the expansion tube 19 and the container 7. When the disc 24 opens communication between the container 7 and the pipe 2, the air pressure corresponding to a liquid column of height x +x suddenly acts upon a liquid column of height at in the pipe 2 and therefore propels the liquid upward through the pipe 2 until it is discharged through the spout 3 at the top of the pipe 2 above ground.

When the liquid is discharged from the pipe 2, atmospheric pressure is restored in the container 7, and a new cycle of operations can start with opening of the check valve 15.

The lifting device described above is fully automatic and delivers liquid intermittently after the container 7 has been submersed in the liquid to be lifted, and the supply of compressed air has been started. The air escapes through the valve in the head 6 until the disc 24 is raised to the seating face 28 by the floats 17, 18.

An apparatus of the type shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 suitable for lifting petroleum of specific gravity 0.80 to a 3 height of 1100 meters requires a container 7 to 100 liters capacity, and a combined height x of the container and of the expansion tube 10 of 275 meters. The section of the delivery pipe 2 from the head 6 to level 1' is 100 meters long and has a capacity of one liter per linear meter.

When the section of the pipe 2 below the head 6 also has a capacity of one liter per linear meter, the column of petroleum to level x is balanced by an air pressure of 30 atmospheres gage when the disc 24 is lifted from the seating face 28. This air pressure is opposed by a liquid :pressure of only 8 atmospheres, and a petroleum column having an initial length of 100 meters is propelled upward in the pipe by the expanding air. The pipe 2 flares upward in a manner not visible in the scale of FIG. 1 in order to reduce the height of the moving liquid column at such a rate that the hydrostatic head is at all times smaller than the pressure of the air expanding from its initial pressure of 30 atmospheres gage and a volume defined by the capacity of the container 7 (100 liters) plus the capacity of the expansion tube It When the latter capacity is 48 liters, the necessary capacities of the several pipe sections shown in FIG. 6 and their lengths can readily be calculated from Boyles law.

A maximum air pressure of 31 atmospheres gage lifts petroleum 1099 meters in spurts of 100 liters when the several sections of the pipe 2 satisfy the following dimensional conditions:

Section 1' 275 m. long, 1.0 liters per meter; Section x 100 m. long, 1.0 liters per meter; Section x 260 long, 1.0 liters per meter; Section x 204 /2 m. long, 2.0 liters per meter; Section x 153 m. long, 4.0 liters per meter; Section x 95 m. long, 8.0 liters per meter; Section x 12 m. long, 8.0 liters per meter.

The hydrostatic pressure of a column of petroleum having a specific gravity of 0.8 and 1100 meter high is 88 atmospheres, or approximately three times the air pressure employed for lifting the petroleum in the preceding example. This is achieved although the liquid in the well reaches only to less than one half of the combined height x of 100 meters of the container 7 and the pipe 2 to the enlargement 2 that is, less than 5% of the depth of the well to the lower level at which oil enters the container 7.

The increase in cross section of the delivery pipe 2 in an upward direction obviously need not be stepwise as indicated above, but may be gradual, and such a gradual increase has been shown in FIG. 6 in a schematic manner.

Tests have shown that the lifted liquid is not emulsified with the propelling gas in the afore-described apparatus. This is believed due to the fact that the gas suddenly hits the bottom face of the liquid column within the confined space of the delivery pipe with such an impact that it acts upon the liquid as if it were a ram of solid material.

The lifting device of the invention is therefore well adapted for lifting crude oil or water from the ground, and particularly for lifting petroleum from pockets in which it is held under a gas pressure insufiicient to drive it to the surface, The lifting device of the invention can 4 replace lifting systems of much higher cost and greater complexity.

What I claim is:

1. A pneumatic liquid-lifting device which comprises, in combination:

(a) a substantially closed container having a top portion and a bottom portion;

(b) supply means for admitting a liquid to said container;

(c) an elongated conduit having two longitudinal end portions and another portion intermediate said end portions, one of said end portions having an orifice in the bottom portion of said container;

(d) a source of gas under pressure communicating with said container;

(e) valve means interposed between the top portion of said container and said intermediate portion of said conduit; and

(f) valve actuating means responsive to the liquid level in said container for opening said valve means if the liquid level in said container is below a predetermined value, and for closing said valve means if said liquid level is above said value.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said supply means include a check valve in said bottom portion.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said valve actuating means include a float in said container operatively connected to said valve means.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said intermediate portion of said conduit is spaced from said one end portion in an upward direction.

5. A device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising check valve means in said orifice for selectively passing liquid in a direction from said container into said conduit.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a tube extending upward from said top portion and formed with a head spaced from said container, said source being connected to said head and said valve means being arranged in said head.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6, said head being in said intermediate portion of said conduit.

8. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the cross section of said conduit increases from said one end portion toward said other end portion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 840,430 1/1907 Butler 103233 1,305,487 6/1919 Owen 103233 1,959,559 5/1934 \Villiamson 103232 2,208,036 7/1940 Kyner 103232 2,461,512 2/1949 Barnes 103232 2,570,667 10/1951 Halbert 103-233 3,175,514 3/1965 McMurry 103-232 3,208,398 9/1965 Douglas 103232 3,215,087 11/1965 McLeod 103232 FOREIGN PATENTS 355,717 8/1931 Great Britain. 975,710 3/ 1951 France.

DONLEY I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. MARK NEWMAN, Examiner.

W. J, KRAUSS, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A PNEUMATIC LIQUID-LIFTING DEVICE WHICH COMPRISES, IN COMBINATION: (A) A SUBSTANTIALLY CLOSED CONTAINER HAVING A TOP PORTION AND A BOTTOM PORTION; (B) SUPPLY MEANS FOR ADMITTING A LIQUID TO SAID CONTAINER; (C) AN ELONGATED CONDUIT HAVING TWO LONGITUDINAL END PORTIONS AND ANOTHER PORTION INTERMEDIATE SAID END PORTIONS, ONE OF SAID END PORTIONS HAVING AN ORIFICE IN THE BOTTOM PORTION OF SAID CONTAINER; (D) A SOURCE OF GAS UNDER PRESSURE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID CONTAINER; (E) VALVE MEANS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE TOP PORTION OF SAID CONTAINER AND SAID INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF SAID CONDUIT; AND (F) VALVE ACTUATING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE LIQUID LEVEL IN SAID CONTAINER FOR OPENING SAID VALVE MEANS IF THE LIQUID LEVEL IN SAID CONTAINER IS BELOW A PREDETERMINED VALUE, AND FOR CLOSING SAID VALVE MEANS IF SAID LIQUID LEVEL IS ABOVE SAID VALUE. 